The Life of Navara
by Valerian Arvellan
Summary: Navara is unhappy but resigned to her role as Avatar but seeks to do her duty as expected. Ankor a young but talented Fire-bender finds himself teaching her more than just bending when he fails in assassinating her. Pre-Canon
1. Chapter 1

Opening Words:

I played around a lot with the character, I decided since we've had Kuruk, Kyoshi, Yangchen, Roku, Aang and even Korra that I wanted to explore an Avatar in a time before all of them. A young and reluctant Avatar who does not want the duty placed upon her. It'll follow her development as a person. Navara will often be conflicted and confused in how to handle her placeas Avatar, hopefully as this continues she will lose some of the conflict within her and be for update rate, it will depend on when inspiration strikes.

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><p>Each one must do their given duty; personal feelings should not be brought into duty; what is one person in the face of thousands of others? A mantra repeated to her from a young age, a mantra she now knew by heart. For on her shoulders lay a duty to all who lived, not to her own people, not to those of her blood, but to all alive. Navara, her name was an apt naming, Lone Island, had her father foreseen that she would be separated from the rest? Did he see that as the Avatar she was forever cursed to remain held above all others, to be revered, or to be hated?<p>

"Dinner is being served shortly, Lady Avatar," the servant informed her, a deep bow at his waist as he spoke to her, he did not raise his eyes to look at her, not when he thought she could see him, but she noticed curious glances when she was not facing him directly. There was a certain nervousness about him, she sensed it nearly everywhere she went and had already came to loathe it.

Navara nodded but said nothing as she rose from her seat and straightened her blue silk robes, a gift from her host and followed the alread walking servant towards the dining hall. The halls of the residence were decorated lavishly, she found them gaudy compared to the simple beauty of her home and found that she was ill at ease within the Fire Nation.

Entering the hall meant that all eyes present turned to face her, Navara nodded as she seated herself, the others followed suit. The meal was simple, or simple by the standards of her hosts but she found the blander foods, lacking the stronger spices of this land far more appetising than some of the fare she had been served prior to this meal.

Her host was a man named Zhang, he was young having inherited early when his father passed away due to illness and was particularly interested in Navara for reasons other than being the Avatar. Unmarried and comely combined with the political power she commanded meant she was a particularly sought after wife by many, others were intimidated and did not vie for her affections, she preferred those.

The meal consisted of light talk of various goings on of the area, none of which she found interesting and although as Avatar she was supposed to be aware and involved in many things she did not try to follow it. The fact that Zhang often let his gaze stray from the others at the meal and to Navara did not go unnoticed and she knew that Isla, his mother was watching with narrowed eyes.

Isla when she spoke caused the entire table to go silent. "Lady Navara, have you given any thought of marriage? Any child produced from your union would be a powerful bender, or so the tales of the offspring of an Avatar say. Some legends say that a child could be a bender of any of the elements." The woman who at forty four years was still beautiful let a cold smile cross her face.

Navara looked at Isla keeping the passive face of an Avatar and answered, "Duty dictates my life, I was born for one reason and indulging in being a wife and mother is not one of them."Immediately glances were exchanged by those at the table, uneasy and wary of what was to come. "Those are luxuries that I doubt I will come by, Lady Isla."

"Forgive me, I spoke without thinking." Isla said visibly wilted at the lack of reaction.

Navara nodded."As we all do at times."

Isla swallowed. "Yes, as we all do at times."

The dining hall was silent after that, no-one dared to speak but instead exchanged glances and concentrated on eating their food, although much of what was on plates was simply scraped around and toyed with.

Navara didn't eat much and was the first to rise and leave the room.

Swapping the fine silk robes gifted to her she instead wound her sarashi around her to serve as undergarments before pulling on the thin blue, purple and white tunic of her nation. The last thing she did before she left the house was attach a water-skin to her belt, it would not do to be caught without her favoured style of bending available. Walking through the halls she navigated her way to the back entrance, passing by a few tapestries that showed firebenders, she almost stopped to study a few of them but the desire to be free of the house was too much.

The streets at this time of the evening were quiet, she preferred it that way as she left the confines of the small town and ventured into what was considered countryside. It was different to home, but as the Avatar she had to acknowledge that she should not favour one nation over another. The Avatar must hold each Nation as equal in their mind.

It was sudden when a onslaught of fireballs came speeding towards her, immediately she formed a shield of fire, although she would have preferred to use her water bending to do so. Her shield was more than enough to protect her from her flames. Tense and alert she scanned the area waiting for a movement to signal another attack. On the assumption that this was an assassination attempt she would have to find the threat and snuff it out before she was caught off guard and killed.

"I am aware of your presence and very much alive, come out and save me the trouble of hunting you," Navara raised her voice as she spoke in a passive tone. She betrayed no anger as she stood straightbacked and seemingly unconcerned. Within minutes she knew she was not alone on the country road.

Coming out of the darkness was a man, Navara swallowed as she made out his features, disregarding the fact he quite possible as an assassin she could not fail to notice that he was in fact rather handsome. He towered over Navara and moved with a lethal grace that she could appreciate as that of a skilled bender.

"I was paid to kill you," the man admitted his eyes on Navara, "not that you are aware there is no longer a chance for me to succeed. I am at your mercy."

Stepping forwards and with a serene face that Navara knew should unsettle her attacker she only stopped when she stood close enough to touch him. "If I am merciful then I invite others to try, if I kill any attackers than others may not dare to in the future."

"I have been watching you. I know that you seek out a new teacher in Fire-bending, your training in incomplete because the first is dead. I can train you, I will give my word of honour that I will not harm or kill you.._not that I could." _He proposed looking at her with no hint of fear in his eyes or posture, he stood tall and confident.

It was insanity that she was even considering accepting his proposal, to kill him now or have him taken into custody would be the correct thing for her to do but she looked at him and saw honesty in his eyes. "I accept," her composure broke as said those two words, she wanted to take them back but it was too late and she would not second guess herself. "Cross me and I will kill you with no regrets." She warned him.

He laughed. "I do not doubt that. I'll be sure to never give you reason to do so, Navara."

The use of her name without the addition of the customary 'Lady' or 'Avatar' had her taken aback at the informality that he had used around her but she did not comment and simply looked at him as she waited expectantly for his name.

"Ankor, my name is Ankor. I'm sure we'll have a good time together." He said calmly, then he winked at her and it was then that Navara lost total composure and let her jaw drop in shock due to the manner the man acted in. This man was quite unlike any other she had met.

Navara took a breath as she replaced the passive mask on her face. "I will be watching you." She warned him.

"I'll also be watching you, especially if you decide to wear Fire nation clothes." Ankor informed her in a voice that told her clearly he was teasing her.

Navara closed her eyes wondering if she had made the right choice.


	2. Chapter 2

Opening Words:

This is not an indication of my rate of updating, this is simply luck that I happen to have inspiration to post another chapter so quickly after my initial posting. Ankor and his motives are nicely muddled, you just don't know what he seeks because of his actions. I'm growing fond of Ankor and pity him for having to put up with Navara. I'm having a lot of fun with these two, part of me is wondering if they'll kill each other before this story is complete.

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><p>Ankor shook his head as he demonstrated how she should be moving. "Fire-bending isn't like water-bending, it is more jabbity-kick-jab-kick and water-bending is more flow-dance-wavy arms." The black haired man went on to demonstrate his depiction of water-bending movements, poorly. His arms didn't capture the flowing movement that a water-bender used in movement, instead the movements were sharper and far more akin to that of his own native bending.<p>

Navara refrained from commentating at the bastardisation of the flowing kata of her native bending. Water-bending was like a dance, not brutal or savage (although she did not deny that the other elements had a certain beauty to their bending forms). Ankor was one of the more powerful fire-benders she had witnessed, this made her all the more suspicious of the man- firebenders were common enough but powerful ones were not nearly as common. Power was normally found in the older family lines, nobility. "I am aware of this. As it happens I am a master of water-bending, and not a novice to fire-bending." Navara informed him.

"I am aware but I am a Master, so I think I outrank you. He informed her as he gave up on his caricature of water-bending and instead flopped down on the grass, he patted the ground beside him and jerked his head at her direction. Navara joined him but shuffled herself further away from him as her arms wrapped around her knees and her chin was resting on them. I

"In terms of rank it goes that I outrank you," Navara said insistently as she raised her chin and met his eyes stubbornly, "I do not need you to explain the differences of the opposition bending elements, I can judge that in a way no other can. I am the Avatar."

Ankor simply smiled. "Yes, I know that. I believe this is the twelfth time in the forty eight hours of our meeting that you have reminded me so." He informed her as he stood abruptly. "However that doesn't mean anything to me, you are a student which means you listen to me and respect me." He warned her.

Navara flew to her feet and advanced towards him. "It is by my mercy that you still live, it is I in the position of power here. One word from me would have you killed or imprisoned for attempting to assassinate me." Her blue eyes met his own amber ones in a deadlock, neither willing to look away and in doing so give the other the win. Realising that she was letting emotions get the better of her she slid the passive mask of the Avatar upon her countenance.

"Navara, you are quite possibly full of arrogance. If I had truly wanted to kill you then you would have likely been dead before you even realised you were being attacked. I was indecisive because killing the Avatar is not something to be done lightly. However if you grow even more arrogant I quite possibly made a error of judgement." The Fire-bender snapped at her as his amber eyes glowed with anger. "

The sudden change form what was an easy going manner was enough to shock her, not scare her because she would never allow herself to admit that she was in those few seconds frightened at the almost complete switch around, she tried to tell herself that he was by his own admission a killer, a man who was paid to kill but she found it hard to reconcile that with the man who had been teaching her over the past two days. He was a patient teacher, quick to spot her mistakes but also as quick to encourage her in what she did correctly. Remaining silent she remained straight backed and kept her head raised, she would not show that she was unsettled.

Unable to even seek comfort in meditation out of fear of being caught off-guard Navara left Ankor to his own devices and wandered through the forest they were now camping in. Trees, grass and dirt were still new to her, so different from the frozen tundra, snow and ice of her birthplace and so very much alive. Nature was perhaps the one thing in life that she was closely connected with and one thing she sought out as often as possible. Relieving herself of the trappings of the material life she led.

Birds were on branches, flying overhead and the earthy smell she had grown fond of was surrounding her. It was only now she smiled genuinely, surrounded by the one thing that demanded nothing of her; nature asked her for nothing but a respect that Navara was more than willing to give; humans did not, they demanded and expected that she must give all that she had to them.

Then she frowned as she heard his foot-steps, he wasn't very light on his feet and she knew already it was Ankor who sought her out. In a manner most unfitting that of the Avatar she scrambled up a nearby tree. Climbing the tree was harder than she had anticipated, nothing like she had done before but she was healthy and fit and was able to do so quickly enough to avoid being spotted or heard.

He was calling out her name, she ignored it and settled herself between two branches, wedging herself between them in a manner that was comfortable enough and secure. The leaves and thinner branches provided an excellent cover for her and she relaxed with a small amount of satisfaction as he failed to locate her.

"Navara this is not funny, if you don't come out I'll start a big fire." He was bellowing with no regard to propriety towards the creatures who resided within the forests, she heard the fleeing of some of the larger and for a brief few seconds entertained using the water in her water-skin to taunt him. Navara quickly dismissed the notion, she was above such pranks as the Avatar, even if Ankor would have been the victim. The man in question was a powerful and skilled bender; one could not help but notice it in the swift and concise movements required of fire-bending that he used; the way he spoke of it clearly and in a way that left no doubt that he knew what he spoke of; although when he did use juvenile ways of wording she found it hard to connect how he acted sometimes with how he acted on other occasions.

Despite his threat she was of the opinion he had no plans to do so, he did not seem like a man to needlessly destroy anything.

Of course he quickly proved her wrong when she realised he had gone through with his threat, she had forgotten afterall that he was by his own admission an assassin. It irked her that she had not realised that when she had ignored his threat and out of fear of anymore precious life being destroyed she nimbly made her way down. Opening the water skin and pulling the water out towards the flames she expelled a loud breath. It was now clear she had been duped, a small pile of twigs and leaves burned but not the entire tree or stretch of grass that she had feared.

He smirked as he looked up at her, his eyes shining with triumph, he was counting this as a win. His amber eyes were bright and she noticed for the first time that his lashes were long and rather pretty. Of course other than his eye lashes nothing was pretty about him, tall and broad shouldered he was what she would say was a masculine specimen. Light stubble graced his chin and cheeks and rather than detract from his appearance she noticed it only heightened his overall attractiveness.

Navara forced herself to ignore him as she stripped her clothing off, she heard a choking noise as she did so and looked to see him shielding his eyes. "I am sufficiently covered without my over-clothes. I am wearing sarashi." She informed him in what was a lighter tone than the normal passive voice she had adopted upon her fifth month after being informed of her status as Avatar.

Ankor pulled the hand from his eyes although Navara realised the fingers had been splayed meaning that he would have caught glimpses of her undressing if she had been doing so. The black haired man was staring at her intently, he advanced towards her and she stood unsure. His hand which she noticed was calloused ran down her neck. Her breathing pace quickened as she wondered what he was planning to do. He leaned in and despite herself Navara stood as his mouth brushed against her ear. She was shivering as she tried to discern why she was breathing so rapidly and why her heart was pounding.

Abruptly he pulled back and spoke. "Nineteen years but so innocent and inexperienced in such relations. I was of the opinion that an Avatar was supposed to be worldly." His voice was low as he spoke but almost velvety as he watched her.

Fighting to regain the slip of composure she did not say a word, she was unsettled by what he had done. His motives in doing so were unknown to her and it bothered her that he had affected her. "I am going to the stream, it is in your best interests to remain out of viewing distance." She informed him curtly as she hurried off but not before picking up a blanket from her pack.


	3. Chapter 3

Opening words:

This is not the update rate you ought to expect, truly it is not because soon I'm sure it will slow down dramatically. In truth I write this to simply get rid of the niggling, in all honesty I'd have been as well simply taking Navara and Ankor and using them in my own original world because shocking as it may be I am not a fan of Avatar: The Legend of Aang.

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><p>Rising out of the depths of the stream she grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around herself, she had kept a keen ear and eye of what was around her and knew other than small critters she was quite alone. Ankor had not ventured closer, nor had any other. Her sarashi were on the bank of the stream and as she stepped up onto the grass she crouched down to grab the bandages in one hand while her other kept the blanket tightly around her body. In swift movements she began to wrap the material around her, years of experience in doing so made her quick in doing so. Satisfied that she was securely wrapped she began to return to where she had left Ankor.<p>

He was leaning against a particularly thick tree trunk, contrary to how she sometimes thought of him he had done nothing particularly nefandous when in her presence, albeit his introductory assassination Ankor noticed her arrival he looked at her as she pulled on fresh clothing and ignored him. Ankor was the one to break the silence. "Unique are your actions because no other woman I have met acts like you, that is not a compliment. One moment you are modest and the next you brazenly strip before my eyes." He said accusingly as he stood straight and raised a hand in her direction. "Yet I have this peculiar nitency to actually enjoy being around you!"

Navara was abducent to him before she decided to stop and answer. "Whatever your impulses, do not place the blame upon me. I asked nothing of you, only took what you offered in place of ending a threat to my life and the stability of the four nations." It was then she noticed something she had not done so before, sweat beaded across his forehead, the grey tinge to his skin and the way he stood unbalanced, swaying on his feet and the wild look in his eyes. Suspicion rose as she realised that his sudden outburst was not what she had originally thought it was, her new companion was clearly not well. "You've been poisoned?" She questioned, she did not expect an answer as he seemed to lack lucidity in his current state.

"Atroppna. I was caught dozing." Ankor forced the words out in an unexpected reply."You know of its symptons and its final result. Charcoal, I must ingest charcoal to dampen the effects and give time for the antidote to be procured." He groaned as he clutched his stomach, he was breathing heavily.

Navara stared at him before she realised that she had to act. Charcoal? Did she have it in her pack? She dove towards her pack and not even taking care to dig through it but instead pulled her belongings out of it and leaving them scattered around her as she found the cloth bag in which the charcoal she had procured in powdered form in preparation for the time she would be poisoned (the Avatar before her had died from being poisoned). Realising she had never learned how to properly administer it she simply poured a handful and held it to his mouth, he was grimacing as he swallowed it with difficultly. Powder it seemed was not easily swallowed.

She waited for signs of improvement although she saw none, of course she could hardly know if it worked immediately or if it would even work. Had the charcoal lost some sort of potency? No, she doubted that because it had been kept try and clear from anything it could absorb, clearly it would simply take some time to ease the severity of his symptons. Once Ankor was lucid enough to tell her what exactly the antidote was. Of course she was wary of the fact he had been poisoned seemingly in the short time she had gone to bathe, but as he was the one who had been poisoned she felt safe to assume that she was not the target of the murder attempt, for once. The poetic justice did not go amissed, the man who had sought her out originally in an attempt to take her life for monetry gain was now the one relying on her assistance to live after someone attempted to kill him.

Then he spoke in a sardonic voice. "I am still alive, and I'm not likely to die anytime soon. The charcoal absorbed a lot of the poison in my system, I simply need an antidote and to flush it out of my system completely. I ought to be fit enough for movement soon." He paused before looking pensive. "Why have you not got a pet? Don't all the Avatars have some sort of creature of their nation?"

"Pokay is not a pet, he is the most wonderful friend anyone could have." Navara snapped, how dare this stupid man refer to her dearest confident as a pet. "It is mating season, Pokay had to go back to the South to father some cubs." She winced inwardly as she felt unexpected guilt at being so short with him when he was poisoned.

"There is a village straight ahead, there is a healer there named Ty Lee and she will likely have the antidote. I'm going to need you to support some of my weight or I won't manage to the walk." Ankor instructed her, his breathing was not quite so rapid but he still possessed the grey tinge to his skin.

Navara nodded her acceptance as she went to gather up their belongings.

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><p>He had been tucked underneath a soft blanket after the antidote had been administered before it occurred to Navara that she may have been able to flush the poison from his system using her healing abilities. Of course there was nothing to suggest she would be able to do so with poison, her studies in healing were incomplete because they were not considered important for an Avatar to have to learn.<p>

Asleep she simply watched him, his eyes closed and face relaxed and for the first time she realised that he was perhaps only six years her senior, she had assumed quite wrongly that he had been nearing his third decade of life, she had been wrong because she could clearly see the still unlined face. Although the grey colour was no longer he was still pale but peaceful in his sleep. Seeing no reason to worry about his survival she instead recollected her composure and settled herself comfortably on the seat and lost herself in thoughts.

Ty Lee had left her small home to make some home-visits but had graciously told Navara to make herself at home. Ty Lee had known Ankor immediately; genuine worry had been clear in her actions and loss of composure. Ankor was now occupying her thoughts because she clearly knew nothing about him other than what tidbits he gave up. He tossed and turned occasionally but she saw nothing else that signalled he was relapsing.

The question remained: who was trying to kill Ankor? Branching from that question were multiple others of various importance and she longed for him to wake so she could interrogate him. He was clearly dragging her into something but one thing she never realised was that she did not need to choose to involve herself in what was appearing to be his problem, she had chosen to stay.

Broken from her thoughts when she heard a cry she looked immediately at the sleeping man who was not sleeping peacefully. A face contorted in a mixture of rage and pain as he writhed around on the bed furiously. Jumbled words were said but she could not make them out as she tried to calm him with words.

"Awaken, you are simply asleep." She tried in a hopeless attempt to wake him.

_What is driving a grown man to terrors like these?_ Navara thought as she placed a hand on his forehead, Ankor responded to her touch positively and when her fingers stroked his face he seemed to drift back into the world of dreams.

Later when Ty Lee had entered with a basket full of food and wine Navara had informed her of what had happened. "It is simply an aftereffect of the poison, he'll get over them." Ty Lee had explained simply and was unconcerned. "I've saved some food for him, nice base foods that shouldn't irritate his stomach, thankfully the charcoal absorbed a lot of the poison which saved his life but he'll not be fit to go anywhere for a few days. In the meantime you can tell me how you came to be travelling with him."

"I am his student, he is teaching me beyond the basics of Fire-bending, my previous Master took ill and passed away and I sought out a teacher."

Ty Lee looked at her in surprise. "My father would be pleased to see his favourite student passing on his teachings," the healer informed Navara as she beamed in delight. "I lived in the Earth Nation as a child, that was where I met Ankor. It was quite a shock for Father when a six year old Ankor got angry and set the clothes of a earth-bender on fire. His mother was a woman of ill respute and an unknown father. Of course it became clear that his father was from the Fire nation."

Navara looked at Ty Lee. "What is meant by a woman of ill respute?" She asked the older woman.

Ty Lee averted her eyes. "A woman who lays with many men for monetry gain, a whore or a prostitute depending on what you want to call her." She said quickly with slightly pink cheeks.

Navara looked at Ty Lee awkwardly. "Oh." She simply murmured trying to stop the embarrassment showing on her face.

"This is the first time in years I've seen Ankor," Ty Lee eventually spoke again, "I am glad to see him again even under the circumstances."


End file.
